NAKHON RATCHASIMA: A special train scheduled to take Covid-19 patients home from Bangkok to the Northeast on Monday was cancelled, with the State Railway of Thailand saying there were too few passengers.
The government earlier instructed SRT to make available a train with 14 carriages to take Covid-19 patients from Bangkok to their home provinces in the Northeast for treatment.
The train was scheduled to leave Bangkok on Monday for Ubon Ratchathani province with 1,489 people, another 1,400 for Nong Khai on Thursday and 1,500 for Ubon Ratchathani on Friday.
On Sunday afternoon officials found that most patients who earlier booked places on Monday's train had already returned home in ambulances, rescue vehicles or chartered buses. Some other patients were diagnosed recovered and discharged.
The few remaining patients made it impracticable to operate the train and the Transport Ministry had deployed buses and rescue vehicles to take them to the Northeast instead.
Earlier, 296 patients booked on Monday's train to Nakhon Ratchasima, 203 to Buri Ram, 99 to Yasothon, 303 to Si Sa Ket, 243 to Surin, 51 to Amnat Charoen and 294 to Ubon Ratchathani.
